The parish of Wanborough spans part of the northern boundary of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The boundary line runs along Icknield Way, Church Road and Pack Hill, the AONB stretches south of this boundary.

The Southern half of the parish consists of chalk plains and farm land which is mainly laid to growing crops and grazing for sheep, cattle and horses. The Northern half is split in two as the land drops down the escarpment. The first step down the escarpment is where Upper Wanborough has evolved. The land at this level consists of a band of green sand and the spring line, provides a line of wooded area's and Coombs and valleys. As the land drops away to the North the soil becomes more clay like. Lower Wanborough, The Marsh and Horpit nestle within the boggy marshes and natural ponds that form a flood plain for the water that runs down from the chalky plains in the south.

The diverse soil types and habitats found across the parish allow for a wide variety of trees, plants, animals, insects and birds to survive and flourish. You will find different species thriving in different parts of the parish. As you travel around through the seasons try to record what you see, take photographs if you can and check them against our nature database to identify if they have already been recorded. If you find something we haven't yet identified, please let us know.

The best places to see our wildlife and plants are around our network of footpaths, the road verges, public green spaces and, if you live in the parish, your own back garden. To see plants that are unique to a specific soil type and the wildlife that thrive on them, check out some of the following places:

• For marshland plants, pond life and bog loving species check out Warnage Wood, the footpaths around lower Pack Hill, Burycroft, The Marsh, Horpit and Lotmead
• For deciduous woodland species have a wander around Church Meadow, Kings Lane, Rodway Open Space, the Lower Recreation Field, the footpath network between Pack Hill, Kite Hill and The High Street and the footpaths running east of The High Street towards Hinton Parva
• For chalk grassland species take a walk up The Hollow and look at around the protected verge, there is a permissive footpath off to the right via the farm buildings that provides access to The Coombe which is an SSSI, further south the Ridgeway and the footpath network across the open plains.

When out and about travel safely.

• Our roads often have no footpaths.
• Many of our out of the way styles are the step over variety.
• You may be crossing privately owned land where cows, horses and sheep graze.
• Dew ponds are often deeper than they appear.

PLEASE Follow the Countryside Code
Always take your litter home with you. If you have a dog, keep it under control at all times and wherever your dog does a pooh, bag it, take it with you and bin it.

Thank you.

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The footpath map

The nature database: